jackbyo

sorted new gauge is in and reading a steady 80-82 after idling in the sun for 20 minutes with today being about 26 degrees Thanks to the advice in this thread and Evan G's tutorial. Although i didnt have to modify the sender, just got a smaller VDO sender and an adapter to make it fit the 16mm. those two pieces set me back $22 I'll put up the part number when i find the docket i picked up a VDO 52mm gauge for $45 which was made to suit the new sender. it's suits the stock gauges perfectly. got a $5 VDO bracket to go with it. and with the firewall I just taped the end of the sender-wire to a coat hanger and poked it through the same rubber grommet that all the other wires go through. worked perfect I found a couple bolts right under the choke which fit the bracket and just chucked it there, coz i wanted it subtle.. bit of gaff had those wires behind it tucked away after this photo I'd like to mount it in where the stock temp gauge is at some point. the clock will be replaced by a tacho just like the new gauge soon. I looked at a calibre gauge at supercheap first and it looked like ugly, flimsy shit made in china, but cost more. go vdo for sure anyway i'm glad i did the thermostat and water pump and all that, but I shoulda gotten a new gauge first. the old ones can't really be trusted. all the parts were about $75 including some wires and spade terminals from jaycar.... took less than an hour once i had it figured, and i've never wired anything before.

any luck?

any progress on the interior?? body looks great. nice luck on the weber too

just wondering how to make sure i keep close to the right timing... would i first mark where the old rotor position is, take that distributor out, put the new one in as far as it will go, then turn the motor over by hand slowly till it drops in properly, and then turn the motor over back to where it was, then just turn the new rotor to the mark of the old one?

oh really?? I was thinking of something else but it's hard to explain.. anyway thanks for that tip. Also a big thanks to RA35GT over on toymods for his great tutorial on installing electronic distributors. gotta ask a couple more things before i give this a shot tomorrow. if I get this working properly, I'll write a tutorial for how to do this specifically for k-series engines... if I can get this done then anyone can cheers

New photos!! It's very dirty and dusty care of the construction across the road. I don't have a vaccuum to hit the interior with either so that's dusty too These rims were care of nick aka greendog... i like very much :y: also i pulled off that bang strip to see if it's better, and it is. Theres an ex mechanic italian dude a few doors up who came out and yelled at me when i was doing it. I told him it was my car, but that's not what he was worried about... he just doesnt think i should take them off... they are in shitty condition and i think it's cleaner without some of my fairly dodgy rust repair... you can tell i'm a first timer back end. i love the tail lights but want full chrome bumpers and rechrome the trim around the lights etc this looks like some off-brand petrol cap because i haven't seen any with it on here, and it leaks when the tank is more than half full when i turn right, which is making the white decal come off. new one in the mail now :y: :y: Also, you can it's missing a bit of trim from between the left side glass panels... I almost ordered one for $40 + postage from rare spares, but then had an idea to shine a torch inside the real panel area.... sure enough i could just see it at the bottom under the window regulator and all that shit. $16 magnetic dish set including a 45cm magnet on a stick from k-mart and I got the sucker out. will reglue it to the glass soon Odometer which i wouldnt be suprised if it's accurate... interior etc is just in great condition. got a blue steering lock and radiator cap :y: :y: :y: and can someone tell me if this radio is stock? It's not working in any case and a rebuilt electronic dizzy from a 4k-e starlet in the states, along side a new ignitor and coil i grabbed at supercheap. had a bitch of a time getting this in with my mate a while ago so gave up... i'll get the stock one out soon because i think i know whats stopping it from going in flush tomorrow... new temperature gauge and my first attempt at a soldering iron

Looking forward to seeing this all put together also can you tell me how much you paint for a respray + cut n polish, getting all that chrome redipped, and your set of locks??? cheers boss it looks really good, giving me some big ideas for sure

really tidy progress on the van... i love it

double post....<br>

So I thought I'd make this thread as a way to keep track of the stuff I'm doing with this car... The first car i've owned and worked on stock 4k-c, 3sp Auto. Only 47,000 on the clock! I'm sure it hasn't ticked over either... could've been rebuilt That front fender is the only dented panel Got it for $900. It's been sitting in a garage for the last 3-4 years. Had some minor rust here and there. Only a couple spots actually eaten through. I put a new battery in and got it going right away. since I got it i've gotten it roadworthy and it's running quite well. I've done some messy/effective rust repair, new battery, new leads/plugs, oil/filter change twice (once with some engine cleaner shit in the oil), roadworthy second hand tyres on a set of 14" bathurst globe knockoffs (challengers I think? will put up pics soon) I also flushed out all the radiator and water jackets, new thermostat and water pump. Except for a defective gauge, i think the cooling system is now working well I wanna keep the body stock/classic looking with plenty of granny-spec :y: :y: Things to do * Fix that fender * repaint same colour probably * Maybe dye seats and carpets black... ideally get new vinyl seats * redo all chrome and put on chrome bumpers * Venitians * SUN VISOR!! * white wall tyres * 5 speed * new stereo * electronic distributor put in that I've got already. * extractors * thermo fan * 2" exhaust * weber carby that's all i can think of for now... sorry that's my only pic. I'll post more up soon and update with stuff i'm doing

why are you selling it?

yeah well thats the thing really... there's that constant doubt When i've got a day off this week i'll pick up that aftermarket gauge kit cheers by the way, is there any particular type of coolant or corrosion inhibitor I should be using?

Update time... and still no progress. I took the old water pump out, and i flushed everything out through the thermostat/water pump/drain tap openings. Everything runs water through itself fine. I took out the radiator and gave it a good flush too, and it looks plenty alright This all made about one bucket's worth of brown water, but otherwise seems fine. Then i put in the new water pump and........... gauge went to red in 5 minutes again. f@$k. the radiator/hoses are feeling hot though. so i dunno so... * New radiator cap * New coolant * Flushed radiator/water jackets in block * New thermostat * New water pump * Water seems to flow through radiator, engine and hoses fine Is it the cheap coolant? It's supercheap auto brand 'standard engine coolant'. Comes in a big bottle and says it's ready mixed, do not dilute. this is driving me nuts....

yeah repco could get it in same day but quoted me almost twice as much as supercheap. I'll give them both a ring and find out the brand and part number and then see if repco will match it. It flowed with a good pressure out the bottom, and when I look in the top it doesnt look crusty at all. I'll get paid next week and get both the VDO gauge kit and a new water pump and give that a go. one thing though, in the gregorys manual it says "special equipment required - press and puller" for the water pump job. what's that all about? thanks everyone

wow that's a serious amount of rusty shit there! i flushed out the block through the drain tap and it came clear fairly quickly. I changed the thermostat, put the coolant back in and turned the car on... went all the way to hot in 2 minutes again. But again the radiator cap and hoses were all cold, while the block itself was really hot. so is the thermostat housing and all that area. once it got hot i tried squeezing the top radiator hose but it didnt feel like anything was pumping through at all. and the reservoir isnt draining either, even though the radiator was a little bit low. so does that mean it's gonna be the water pump yeah? super cheap will order it in but it'll take a week or so and cost $50 i'll get the aftermarket gauge when i get paid, but is there anything else it could be that I haven't tried yet? cheers

sorry I shoulda been more clear I picked up a thermostat and thermostat gasket today but supercheap is ordering in the water pump for me. I'll put that in in the morning. But yeah the sender 'fixed' the temp gauge being dead, but it went to hot in just a few minutes of driving! even after I flushed the radiator and put new coolant in, it's still going right to hot... thing is that the radiator cap isn't even warm, but if I feel around the thermostat housing and where the sender is it's like burning hot. SO that's making me think that the thermostat is the culprit because it's probably not letting any coolant get through. Remember that I got this car off a girl who left it sitting in a garage for 3-4 years. SO job for tomorrow is my first thermostat replacement. Also, I did flush the radiator by disconnecting the bottom hose and running clean water through the cap until it went clear, but I think if the thermostat really has sealed shut then I probably need to flush out the coolant jackets in the block itself. I can just blast a hose through the thermostat hole and let it flush out through the coolant drain tap on the block right?

Ok so maybe I can just ask a few more questions... I went to a place called Airco nearby that deals entirely with gauges and the like. The dude hooked up a device (multimeter?) to the female wire that normally hooks onto the sender, and then turned on my car and watched my cars temp gauge as he checked it against his device. He then said the sender needed to be a resistance pretty much exactly as what's listed above (332 cold, 23 hot) and got me the right sender to suit. (turned out to need a 16x1.5 thread after all... :bash:) my main question is that by doing that, has he checked the integrity of the wiring and gauge? next question is, what did he do to check it? Did he use a multimeter? I'd like to be able to do this stuff myself, so I just bought a multimeter from jaycar and finally what I'd like to do to be sure is put an aftermarket (maybe digital) gauge somewhere discreet just for peace of mind. I was thinking I could get a gauge that matches a sender that'll fit into the block drain tap at the front of the motor. is there anything wrong with that plan?

ah yeah i see the haynes #92725 covers the ke70 1.3 litre (4k-c), but there doesnt seem to exist a haynes that is the 4k-c engine in a ke55 body... I might grab the haynes #92030 for the ke55 body info, and the haynes #92725 for the 4k-c engine info. should be alright i've got the gregorys #184 which is quite good but there's a few things it only skims over and I like having plenty of info... what would be great is the yellow books... is there a code for the original toyota workshop manuals by the way? There doesnt seem to be an identifier other than 'yellow books' mentioned in the FAQ thanks!

oh ok so we don't have a haynes manual for that model with a 4kc then?? I might still get it for some body info etc cheers

bit confusing as my ke55 is 1980 but all the haynes manuals I see for 1980 are clearly ke70s i remember reading that USA had started with ke70s by 1980 so I'm assuming I need the one that looks like the pic attached... is that right? Is there a difference between the 92030 and the 361? They seem to be the same book but both list the corollas as either 1166cc or 1588cc on the cover which I'm not sure about as I thought the 4k engine was a 1.3 litre cheers

edit: I see that I'd have to get an optical thermometer of some sort, but where abouts do you measure from? Just point it at the block etc?? i've just done my first proper coolant change. Flushed out the radiator with a garden hose in the top while the bottom radiator hose was off until everything came out clean. pulled that block drain nut off and drained that too. Put fresh coolant in and it's gone straight to hot still... the radiator cap feels cool to touch, and the coolant doesnt appear to be moving from the reservoir but the thermostat housing area and the middle/bottom of the block itself are very hot. I'm thinking it's my thermostat jammed shut after sitting still for 3 years or my water pump not getting enough coolant around. I'll change both and report back. I'm also looking into how to install a more reliable aftermarket temp gauge

So my temp sensor is screwed. I went to get a new one and the guys at repco came up with a VDO part number 320.043 anyways turns out that part is bigger than the old one thats in the engine now. The new part had a thread diameter of 16x1.5, where as the old one that fits is 14mm the guy at repco couldn't find any temp sensor for a corolla that wasn't 16x1.5. There was a part 320.044 that someone mentioned on another thread here somewhere but it apparently has the same thread size just different ohms He's ordered in one thats for an alfa, part number CTS145 that looks like it'll fit, but he doesnt know the ohms for that part or the ruined one that's in my engine now... if the ohms are different I'll get a false reading so if anyone has had to fix their temp gauge and ended up with a 14x1.5mm sensor that fits, can you tell me what part number it is and maybe the ohms?? right now i'm driving around with the heater on full blast to get rid of some of the engine heat because I just dunno if it's running really hot or not. cheers

my friend had an old datsun with a cut off switch for the ignition. basically it was wired so that there was a gap which you had to join with two fingers by touching two screws with one hand while you turned the key. the beauty was that the screws were there already, he'd just wired under the carpet. I'm trying to figure out how to do that with my rolla but i'm not good with electrics

can i ask what kind of air filter that is and where you got it from??

hey quick question with replacing the temperature sender being as it's right under the thermostat/top radiator hose, does that mean that when if i take out the old dud temp sender, that all the coolant will just come rushing out? Or am i fine to just somehow get a socket over the little bastard and twist it off without worrying about draining my coolant? cheers